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Chapter 63: The Burden of Infinite Futures
The Time Bureau existed as humanity's desperate gambit against entropy itself.
Forged in the crucible of the 110,000th century, when mankind had gazed upon the face of temporal oblivion and found it wanting, this organization bore a singular purpose: to shield the future from the malignant influence of Eternal Spacetime.
Their mission was born from necessity, to preserve the timeline beyond their epoch from arbitrary manipulation and dissolution at the hands of those who had made themselves masters of causality.
Within the sterile confines of a Time Bureau detention chamber, the Emperor of Mankind and Constantin Valdor awaited their audience.
Two hours had elapsed since the Raven's prophetic words had manifested into stark reality.
The prescient corvid had scarcely completed his warning when operatives of the Bureau's temporal enforcement division materialized around them, their movements precise and coordinated.
Ā Heeding the future counsel provided by Noy herself, neither the Master of Mankind nor his Captain-General had offered resistance. Instead, they had chosen the path of discourse with these soldiers of tomorrow.
They had claimed urgent business with the Bureau's hierarchy, specifically requesting an audience with the woman known as Noy.
After deliberation, the unit commander had acquiesced to their transport back to the Bureau's temporal stronghold.
"Iron gates, oh, iron windows, iron chains. Leaning on the iron window, looking outside. How beautiful life is outside."
The Raven's melodic lament echoed through the detention facility, his song carrying the weight of countless imprisoned souls throughout history.
The Emperor and Valdor maintained their silence, though the corvid's theatrical display of captivity was not lost upon them.
Approaching footsteps interrupted the avian performance. Several figures in military dress uniforms approached the energy barrier that contained them, their bearing marking them as officers of significant rank.
At their head walked a woman whose very presence commanded attention. Her uniform bore the insignia of high command, and her bearing spoke of battles fought across impossible timelines.
This was Noy, the architect of temporal intervention whom they had specifically requested to meet.
"My name is, " she began, only to be cut short by the Raven's sudden materialization before the assembled officers.
"I know who you are," the corvid declared with characteristic boldness. "You are Noy."
A frown creased the woman's features as she regarded the talking bird, her tactical mind processing this unexpected variable. Intelligence reports had made no mention of a sentient corvid among their captives.
"You claim knowledge of me?"
"Of course," the Raven replied without hesitation. "You are the one who guided us to this temporal coordinate."
Noy's expression hardened. "Impossible. I have never encountered you before."
"It was your future self who brought us here," the Raven explained, his tone carrying the weight of absolute certainty.
"She spoke of escape from the hunters dispatched by Eternal Spacetime. She promised aid, that you would help us establish the Human Empire, then strike against Eternal Spacetime itself, leading humanity beyond the confines of Earth and into the infinite expanse of the galaxy."
Murmurs rippled through the assembled Time Bureau personnel. Even Noy's composed facade cracked, revealing a flash of genuine shock.
"Who are you?" she demanded.
"I am the Raven," came the proud response. "You do not yet know me, but I have already walked alongside your future shadow."
"Your claims require substantiation," Noy stated with professional skepticism.
Without ceremony, the Raven produced a silver pendant, its surface catching the chamber's artificial illumination.
Ā "This was bequeathed to you by your mother. Your future self entrusted it to me, claiming it would serve as proof of our shared destiny."
The color drained from Noy's face as she stared at the pendant. Her hand moved instinctively to her throat, withdrawing an identical piece, perfect in every detail, down to the microscopic scratches that marked years of wear.
The Bureau's security protocols demanded verification. Molecular scanners and temporal analysis equipment were brought forth, operated by specialists whose expertise spanned millennia of scientific advancement.
Ā Their conclusions were undeniable: both pendants were the same object, merely separated by the dimension of time itself.
"It appears my future self did indeed facilitate your arrival in this temporal coordinate," Noy admitted, her analytical mind accepting the evidence despite its impossibility.
A square-faced man stepped forward from among her entourage, his bearing marking him as someone accustomed to authority. "However, we maintain no intention of engaging Eternal Spacetime in direct conflict. Such action would result in the complete dissolution of the timeline as we understand it."
"Our current stratagem involves disrupting the causal matrices that allow Eternal Spacetime to achieve temporal closure," he continued. "Nothing more."
Valdor stepped forward, his auramite armor catching the chamber's light as he spoke for his gene-father. "Circumstances have evolved beyond your original parameters. This is why we stand before you now."
His voice carried the authority of ten millennia of service to the Throne.
"Furthermore, conducting negotiations while your guests remain confined behind force barriers hardly reflects the hospitality one might expect from humanity's temporal guardians."
Noy's lips quirked in what might have been the ghost of a smile. She gestured to her subordinates. "Deactivate the containment field. Release them."
"Understood, Commander," the guard replied, his fingers dancing across the control interface.
The energy barrier dissolved with a barely audible hum, returning the prisoners to the status of guests.
"Might I inquire as to your temporal origins?" Noy asked as the field dissipated.
"We do not originate from this continuum," Valdor replied with characteristic directness. "We are travelers from beyond the boundaries of this universe entirely."
The Captain-General saw no advantage in deception. Their abilities remained largely intact despite the temporal displacement, and the Raven possessed the capability to extract them from this facility at will. Transparency would serve their purposes better than subterfuge.
The revelation sent ripples of astonishment through the assembled officers. "Interdimensional travelers?" one whispered.
Hushed consultations followed, with several personnel departing the chamber only to return bearing classified reports.
These documents circulated among the senior staff before being presented to their unexpected guests.
The files contained comprehensive analyses of their group, classifying both the Emperor and Valdor as "temporal anomalies." According to Bureau records, their party had manifested in the 575th century without precedent, absent from all observable past and future timelines.
"The evidence supports your claims," Noy acknowledged after reviewing the data. "You exist outside the boundaries of causality as we understand it."
Her expression grew thoughtful. "Perhaps this explains my future self's decision to render aid. Only beings who exist beyond time's reach might possess the potential to reshape it entirely."
Noy outlined the Bureau's original stratagem: severing the causal chains that bound Eternal Spacetime, enabling humanity's development of nuclear technology, and facilitating mankind's expansion into the void between stars.
Valdor voiced the question that had formed in his gene-father's mind.
Ā "Why do you perceive this as a choice between alternatives? The development of temporal manipulation and stellar expansion need not be mutually exclusive pursuits."
A bitter smile crossed Noy's features. "Our observations encompass countless simulated realities that emerge from timeline alterations. In every scenario where Eternal Spacetime maintains its existence, humanity invariably chooses the path of least resistance, safety over ambition, stagnation over growth."
She paused, her gaze distant with the weight of impossible knowledge. "The Eternals, in their determination to preserve their transcendent status, actively prevent humanity's expansion beyond Earth. Additionally, our species possesses an inherent aversion to risk that compounds this problem."
"Our original protocol demanded forcing humanity into the space age regardless of their preferences," she continued. "To achieve this objective, we must completely eradicate Eternal Spacetime, not merely disrupting their operations, but erasing every timeline of their existence and rebuilding reality from its foundations."
Valdor nodded slowly. "I understand your reasoning. However, my Lord envisions a superior approach."
The square-faced officer, Line, as his identification marked him, leaned forward with interest.
His role within the Bureau involved observing the realities erased by Eternal Spacetime's transformations, documenting lost technologies and cultural achievements that vanished with each temporal revision.
"What approach?" he inquired.
"Reject the premise of choosing between alternatives," Valdor replied, his voice carrying the absolute certainty of one who had stood at the Emperor's side for millennia. "Establish the Human Empire. Destroy Eternal Spacetime. Allow the Time Bureau to assume complete dominion over the timeline."
He gestured with practiced authority. "When humanity faces extinction-level crises, the Bureau becomes our failsafe, enabling temporal reversion and repeated attempts until mankind's glorious future is assured."
The Raven offered a silent gesture of approval, recognizing the vision's perfect alignment with his patron's character. The Emperor's ambitions had always transcended mere survival, they encompassed dominion over existence itself.
Line's expression grew troubled. "The energy requirements for such an undertaking..." He trailed off, calculations racing through his mind.
"Eternal Spacetime requires stellar detonation merely to maintain Earth's temporal field. A chronological barrier encompassing entire galaxies, or the universe itself, what power source could sustain such a construct?"
The unspoken question hung in the air like a sword of Damocles: Would they sacrifice entire universes to fuel humanity's temporal dominion?
The Emperor's vision was as magnificent as it was terrible, uncompromising in its scope, absolute in its ambition. It was the dream of a being who had witnessed the species' potential across ten thousand years of struggle, who understood that humanity's destiny lay not in mere survival, but in transcendence itself.
In the sterile chamber of the Time Bureau, surrounded by the technology of humanity's distant future, the seeds of empire were being sown across the very fabric of reality.
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